Monday, February 11, 2013

Pictures of the Rig

Charlie6 and SonjaM mentioned in a comment on my last post to maybe post some additional shots of the rig taken at other angles. I must admit that most of my photos have been showing details like the lights or the sidecar mounts. On Sunday afternoon, I headed up to the West Ridge parking lot at the university as I figured that it should be pretty empty and there would be plenty of daylight. I have all of the cases mounted on the bike but they are mostly empty.

I was pleased that the right case lid still opened enough for it to be useful and, in fact, opens almost all the way before hitting the sidecar frame. I just mounted the top box on Friday on the Reynolds rack that I had picked up on Ebay almost five years ago. I haven't been able to use the rack since it required different side case mounts. The rack has two positions forward and back. The back position allows the seat to be opened and when it's forward, the case is positioned over the rear cowling even more forward than last summer when I had the box mounted to the seat pan. I found a parts place online that had a used set of the proper case mounts and installed the rack on at the end of last Summer. Maybe I should look at installing the top box on the sidecar rack. After all, more weight there would be fine, I think.

After seeing this shot, I noticed that the nose of the sidecar is down. Since I didn't check the alignment after removing and re-installing the sidecar, I didn't catch this earlier. I raised up the front and rechecked the toe-in and lean. The toe-in is 5/8" and the lean out is still 1°. But of course this now requires additional "test" rides.

The two small holes below the front sidecar turn signal and on the rear are mounting holes for the Cozy nameplates. The plates were in a plastic bag in the trunk and the holes had rivets filling them. I drilled out the rivets to put the plates in place. The one on the rear has the street address of Cozy in India as "Just past the Police Station".

This iPhone picture was taken at the same time as the others but it came out underexposed. Not sure why. Maybe I switched to a different camera app.
I did notice some low speed wobble that I may have originally thought was simply the icy, bumpy road. It occurs at around 10mph and isn't an issue at this time especially with the slippery roads.

These last two pictures were taken on another test ride around 5pm after adjusting the height if the sidecar. It is now pretty close to sunset at this time of year. The bike is at the same location as the previous photos but there isn't much daylight left. You can see the small white LED marker lights I added to the sidecar as well as the parking light on the motorcycle. The bike is old enough to still have a separate headlight switch which I like. It's nice to be able to turn off the headlight when cranking the engine especially with our colder temperatures or when the bike is just idling.

I'm not very satisfied with the behavior of the new tail/brake/right turn light. The trailer light converter dropped the voltage too much so the turn signal and the brake light were pretty anemic. I removed the converter and turned the new red light into simply a tail/brake light and for now, put the bulb back into the right turn signal on the bike until I can find a nice, bright amber turn signal for the sidecar.

Sunday was really warm with temperatures venturing into the 20s (°F). This really made for slick roads so the studded tires got a good workout. It'll be interesting to see how many of the studs are still there.

13 comments:

  1. Good pics Richard!

    Are you going to paint the tub to match the tug?

    Dom

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    1. No, probably not. At least for now. If I paint anything, it would probably be both as I was never much a fan of the burgundy or whatever color BMW called the bike's color.

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    2. The bike is 30 years old and there is a lot of wear and tear including, but not limited to the bodywork. The paint on the tub is in much better condition.

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  2. Richard great photos - I have a much better idea of what it all really looks like now. Is this intended to be a winter configuration only or a year round? (With the side car there's a lot of room for extra gear and extra gear means longer trips!)

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    1. No kidding about the extra space. There is tons of space for way too much stuff. I'm thinking that at least for this summer, the sidecar will be staying on as I need all the practice I can get. It sure is convenient to just stop and get off with the bike still running for times like opening the garage door.

      I'm interested to see how it handles gravel roads this summer...

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  3. Looking good Richard.

    Does it feel weird to be out on the bike in the snow or have you been out enough it feels natural and you want to ride it ll the time?

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    1. It doesn't feel odd at all. For some that ask "why?" I say "street legal snow machine" and it now makes complete sense to them...

      With the studded tires it feels a lot more solid on snow covered roads than on ice covered pavement. And the occasional yaw still gets my attention but overall the rig seems pretty stable. And its a whole lot more fun than walking or driving. The heated gear is wonderful so I'm warmer on the bike than in the car strange as that may seem.

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  4. I'm glad to see more photos. You can keep them coming and I won't complain.

    I think the strategy of leaving the car on for at least the upcoming summer is an excellent idea.

    I'm thinking it is going to do well on the gravel roads.
    ~Keith

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    1. I figure that I need a lot more practice with the sidecar. Right now I have about 40-50lbs of ballast in the form of an old car battery. I need to find something better as I don't want the acid rusting the metal in the trunk. I'm hoping it does okay on gravel roads though the sidecar suspension is a lot stiffer than what is on the bike. It may be better if they were more "balanced".

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  5. Very nice. Finally we get to see the rig from all angles. Thanks, Richard. I understand that colour is not your priority right now given what a paint job might cost, and it's not adding to performance (except it's red).

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    1. If I were to paint everything, I would probably strip, prep and paint it myself. That's just the way I am. Not that I don't trust anyone else to do a good job but I'd just rather do it myself. Another rider in town had picked up a sidecar and plans on just doing truck bed liner inside and out. I would be tempted to have the frame and underside of the tub done that way as well. We'll see how well it all holds up.

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  6. I am sure your sidecar will do fine on gravel Richard. As to ballast, you'll eventually get more confident with practice/experience to the point where you ride with just tools and gear. In fact, it's better...in the long run...to wean yourself off ballast unless the sidecar proves so light you need some regardless.

    One of the guys here has a GS Rig, and the sidecar is so light when compared to his 1150GS that he had steel plates welded onto the bottom of the subframe. problem solved. He is, btw, a damn good sidecar rider....

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    Replies
    1. I keep getting told that the Cozy is a very light sidecar and I'll need lots of ballast to keep it on the ground. At 200 lbs, is seems to be heavy enough for my bike. Plus with the DMC mounts, the track is pretty wide at 52" so the weight is pretty far out there.

      So far, I'm enjoying the experience and the new challenges.

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